We thought it was a bit crazy to read of possible recruiting efforts by DePaul of a 13-year-old kid but a half dozen emails to our tip inbox pointed us to the story of 10-year-old superstar Jaylin Fleming which tops even that. The Tribune spends nearly 1,500 words (and a three minute supplemental video) for a feature on "the most talented 10-year-old basketball player in the country." Says Fleming to the Trib, "I'm a humble kid who's trying to achieve a goal." We assume he means puberty? more ›

No matter how many movies come out about something, no matter how many times we've seen the world blown up on the big screen due to our careless ways — we still have to go and invent stuff. Hell, someone's probably out splicing velociraptor genomes right now. You know how we know? Because the 21st century is right here, in Chicago. more ›

This week marks the return of Adventures in Modern Music at the Empty Bottle. Arriving on the heels of the World Music Festival, the five-day event celebrates experimental music like the mash-up dance rock of Brazil’s Tetine, blessed-out head trips of France’s Colleen and Trapist’s space rock. A full lineup is available at the Bottle’s website, but don’t forget to see You’re Gonna Miss Me, a documentary at the Siskel Film Center on the fall... more ›

While hardly an undiscovered treasure, Facets Multimedia is the ultimate under-the-radar art house theater. It doesn't have the flash of the Landmark or the old Chicago feel of the Music Box. But it makes up for all that with challenging foreign films, lauded independent features and a deep catalog of hard-to-find movies for rental and purchase (we could have saved a lot of time tracking down Out of the Loop, a documentary on the late 80s/early 90s Chicago music scene, if we had made Facets our first stop instead of our last. more ›

While not quite approaching the fever pitch the final Star Wars film achieved, there’s still plenty of excitement over Batman Begins, opening tomorrow in Chicago (and everywhere else in the country) before its planet-spanning mega-release this weekend. more ›

Don't you love it when you go to see some heavily hyped band play live only to have them blown off the stage by an opener you've never heard of? That's exactly what happened to Chicagoist when we saw The Features Razorlight a few months ago. more ›

Unlike the Grammys, people seem to really “care” about the Oscars. Tubthumping pub-dwellers insist both shows “only recognize crap and not real art” but with respect to the Oscars, it’s not entirely true. Not that it matters as the ratings for the Oscars rise and fall on the box office success of the nominated films. And even those who haven’t seen any of the best picture nominees have an interest in the Oscars—even if they’re... more ›

So you’re downtown with the family doing the holiday thang, and you feel a bit famished. The line for the Walnut Room stretches to the Lake, and workaday sandwich options (Cosi/Baci/Panera/Subway) threaten to underwhelm you at every turn. What to do, you wonder. And then, you dredge up a faint memory of the Italian Village on Monroe and Clark. more ›

The new park will be built this winter in Gurnee, on 13 acres of land ajoining Six Flags' Great America. Features of the park will include include slides, raft rides and a wave pool. There will also be a two-acre play area with 17 towers interconnected with slides, bridges, chutes and ladders that would be "the world's largest interactive water play structure." more ›